Also 7 stall. [? f. STALE v. But cf. Du. stalle, MLG. stal, G. stall.]
1. Urine; now only of horses and cattle.
a. 1400. Stockh. Medical MS., in Anglia, XVIII. 299. In werd ben men & women … þat þer stale mown not holde.
1530. Palsgr., 275/1. Stale pysse, escloy.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. xxxvi. 12. That they be not compelled to eate their owne donge, and drinke their owne stale with you?
1548. Recorde, Urin. Physick, xi. 89. The stale of Camels and Goats … is good for them that have the dropsie.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, O iij b. Or annoint thy selfe with the stale of a mule.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. iv. 62. Thou did’st drinke The stale of Horses.
1662. Gerbier, Principles, 34. That his Stall doth not remain under him.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 242. Mice and Weasels by their poysonous Stale infect the Trees so, that they produce Worms.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 122. Sheep, whose Dung and Stale is of most Virtue in the Nourishment of all Trees.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 51. The stale of mares.
b. To have a rod in stale (? Anglo-Irish): = to have a rod in pickle: see PICKLE sb.1 1 b.
1837–8. J. Keegan, Leg. & Poems (1907), 65. I have a rod in stale for him ever since the night he offinded me at the wake.
2. Blood-stale, stale-foul a disease (see quot.).
1816. Towne, Farmer & Grazier’s Guide, 21. The Blood-Stale in Horses, the Stale-foul, in Oxen, and the Red Water in Sheep, are Diseases … derived from very similar causes.
